Secular Coalition for Missouri starts organizing leadership

Mo. State Sen. Bill Stouffer (R-Napton) wants to debate a measure allowing I-70 to become a toll road.

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A newly formed secular lobbying group is one step closer to finalizing its leadership after its second state-wide organizing call Thursday.

The Secular Coalition for Missouri plans to lobby for stronger separation of religion and government at the state level, much like its parent organization, the Secular Coalition for America, does at the national level.

First, the group needs leadership. That’s exactly what Kellen Gracey is interested in. He’s a graduate student at St. Louis University looking experience in a nonprofit organization and the political system. He says the coalition seems like the best fit.

“I find them to be a rational group of people," Gracey says. "They’re not looking to convert anybody. They’re not looking to trample somebody’s belief system.”

The group primarily represents nontheists – those who don’t believe in a God or gods. Gracey was raised Catholic, but that changed in middle school.

“And I started having questions about my faith, and it wasn’t until two or three years ago where I started telling comfortable telling people that I’m an agnostic,” Gracey says.

The Secular Coalition for Missouri will continue getting organized and established in the upcoming months.

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